Thursday, June 11, 2009

Counter insurgency is a force or action taken by an established government against those who oppose it (insurgents).

Following WW2, the United States began developing strategies and tactics for use against insurgencies popping up around the world. An aspect of this doctrine of developing "assistance" for the many lesser developed countries was how to arm them, for their fight against Communism and its various manifestations.

The Piper Enforcer was one experiment in this effort. A wildly popular and successful aircraft, the North American P-51 Mustang, was upgraded into a weapons platform that could deliver large amounts of ordnance. Capable of being flown from unimproved airfields, by indigenous pilots, it appeared to be a good fit for the COIN role.

Originally developed by Cavalier, a company well known for its 2 seat executive conversions of P-51's, the concept was sold to Piper Aircraft, a company with much larger production capacity and the potential strength needed to sell the concept to the USAF. Beginning in 1971 Piper tried to develop and sell the concept of the Enforcer, finally retiring the project and the 4 aircraft built in 1984.

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Cold War Air Museum

The Cold War Air Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration and maintenance of Cold War era aircraft with a special emphasis on aircraft flown by the former Soviet Union.

Most of the museum's 20+ aircraft are in flying condition or being made ready for flight.

The museum is located on Lancaster Municipal Airport, twenty minutes south of Dallas, Texas. The museum has tour hours of 10am to 4pm on Saturdays but is open all day most weekends. There is a cafe on the field that serves a full breakfast and lunch menu.